The One Who Feeds On Me Will Live (have spiritual life) - Proper 20

The Gospel of John Readings assigned for Propers 18-20 – four weeks of teaching, all cover the same central idea of Jesus as ‘the bread of life’. This is probably the most important – and hardest teaching of Jesus to understand. It is a summing up of the New Covenant of Jesus all the way from the Hebrews experience under Moses to the Pentecost experience of the first Christians. The subject is how to have a personal spiritual life that will last forever, including after our physical bodies die.

 1. Jesus explains He is like the mana that came from heaven

This is another example of using a visible and physical thing to explain an invisible and spiritual thing. The Bible teaches us that when the Hebrew people wandered in the desert for 40 years God provided a strange, powdery / flakey substance that formed on the ground in the morning and had to be gathered and eaten each day.

Why Is Working With Other Churches Important to St. Edmund’s? (Bow-Mont Ministerial Service, Aug. 9, 2015)

 

In writing to the Christian community in Corinth, the Apostle Paul said

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

We are all baptized into the same spiritual body. This body is more effective when all the parts – all the churches, work together. People in our time are isolated and confused about religion. They are seeking community, fellowship and meaning in their lives. We call this ‘spiritual life’. But what do the un-churched see? They often see churches breaking into smaller and smaller fragments – and fighting over minor theological issues. The message we send out is that nobody really knows the truth about Jesus – so why bother attending church?

Jesus New Covenant Unites Us In His Spiritual Body (Proper 18)

The Readings help us understand how the new Covenant of Jesus helps us grow and mature together into the spiritual body of Jesus. They began with the Prophet Nathan rebuking David for “despising God” and breaking the Covenant of Moses in his acts of adultery and murder. In the Gospel (John 6.24-35) Jesus declares a new covenant, that adds to the teaching of the Moses Covenant, describing Himself as the bread of heaven that gives life to the world. Finally in Ephesians (4.1-16) the Apostle Paul urges us to grow up into the joy of maturity in our spiritual life as part of the spiritual body of Jesus.

 1. Covenants with God are serious and have consequences

Covenants have two parts – what we do; and what God does. In the Covenant of Moses the people were to love God and their neighbour as defined in the Ten Commandments. In return God promised land, children, prosperity and protection from enemies.

Those Who Believes In Me Will Live Even Though They Die (Celebration of Life)

This is the Good News of Christianity. We all wonder what happens when someone dies. We all fear our own death. We also all hear a lot of platitudes about people being in Heaven who may or may not have been serious believers. The most common lie in our time is that good old uncle George is in heaven in spite of never having shown evidence of belief – but because they were a “good person”. The sad truth is that George is probably just dead. He had probably not developed a spiritual life, not asked for and received forgiveness for his sins, had no relationship with Jesus and his sin polluted soul and spirit could not survive in the presence of a holy God. The Readings (John 11 an 14) help us understand why we are celebrating the Earthly and continuing spiritual joy of our beloved Sister in Christ – who was also a very good person, but who had developed a strong spiritual life that could survive in the presence of a holy God.

1. We are not just physical beings – we have a soul and a spirit

In order to understand the joy of our spiritual life we need to understand how things work in the spiritual dimension described in the Bible. God, for example, is omnipresent – can be present everywhere, including in Jesus and including in us.

We Are To Be Temples Of The Holy Spirit (Eph. 3.22) for Proper 16

This is what all Christians are supposed to be. We are to be people in such a right-relationship with God that God the Holy Spirit can live in us. The Readings explain what this is in terms of the relationship between a shepherd and sheep. In modern times this is the relationship between each of us and Jesus. If this is a good and holy relationship based on faith and love, the Holy Spirit will come and live inside each of us to guide us, strengthen us and heal us as we go through life in this dangerous time and place.

1. Jesus is our righteousness (Jer. 23.6)

Names in the Bible are very important. They tell us what a person is expected to be. They are a one word personal mission statement. The expected Messiah - Jesus, is to be called “The Lord our righteousness”. It is important to note that we do not have “righteousness” or a right relationship on our own. Jesus is our righteousness. It is only when we are connected to Him that we are spiritually covered by the righteousness of Jesus.

• The Greek in the Bible really means “in Him”.  
• God by his love and grace accepts our Faith and trust in Jesus sacrificial death for us as equal to us dying for our own sins.
• We repent and die emotionally to our sins in our weekly Confession.
• This is why the Priest can give us absolution.  
• God accepts this repentance in Faith and forgives us through the shed blood of Jesus.
• We are spiritually covered by our faith in the righteousness of Jesus
• Those who are not living “in Him” through their Faith in Jesus,  Baptism and Christian lifestyle are not covered by the righteousness of Jesus. They are alone and vulnerable to all the temptations, deceptions and spiritual attacks of the Evil One. We can see what this looks like on the front page of any newspaper. It is not very happy.

2. Jesus is our teacher

Faith Overcomes Fear (Proper 12)

Fear can be a good thing if it warns us of danger or motivates us to take action to protect ourselves from the storms of life. Fear can also be destructive if we worry about our finances, our health, not being liked or even death. Fear of death and separation from God is the power Satan has over those who do not know the Good News of forgiveness and salvation in Jesus Christ. Fear can block our spiritual life by preventing us from taking the risk of Faith and depending on Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Readings give us examples of other people of faith who overcame their fear and grew in Faith.

 1. The storm of life is a test of faith

Baptism Gives Life Meaning Direction and Purpose

Baptism is much more than a hope that those who live out their Baptismal Promises will have eternal spiritual life. We are born with a physical body and a soul and then born a second time in Baptism with a personal spirit that is connected to God the Holy Spirit. We all need this connection to give our lives meaning, direction and purpose. We see evidence of people who do not have this connection all around us whose lives lack meaning, direction and purpose:

• Those who live only for themselves and have no love
• Those caught up in failure, sickness - no hope
• Those caught up in conflict and violence – no peace
• The lazy and ignorant who have given up on life – no joy

1. Baptism gives life meaning – an identity
The Baptized have a contract with God which explains how the world operates and what their place in creation is.  Many people are confused about identity, the meaning of life and what they are supposed to be doing. This is often the work of Satan who has stolen their identity and replaced it with the lie that God is angry at them, they are no good, they will never be successful at anything etc.

 The truth is the opposite – they are a precious child of God.

Not only that but that God is their spiritual Father. This is often a new and healing experience.

 

2. Baptism gives direction to our life